Although the premises and some of the banter are enjoyable, McMillan is less successful with character and plot development,...
Two adventurous female detectives travel from Toronto to Chicago in the 1910s to investigate a Mountie who may have gone rogue.
Jemima DeLuca’s only surprise when she gets fired from her job in Spenser’s Department Store mailroom is that it took them so long to do it. She knows that now that she’s a married woman she’ll be expected to tend to her husband’s every need, though Ray seems more attentive to his sister’s well-being than Jem’s. It’s no problem, because Jem has her own interests, which she hopes will result in a financial payout one day: the ladies detective agency she runs with her friend Merinda Herringford. Merinda, who comes from money, is motivated less by cash flow than curiosity, even nosiness, about the world and her desire to wear pants, as her disguises often permit. Jem and Merinda’s new client, Benefield Citrone, a Mountie almost-flirtatious Merinda dubs Benny, has been searching for his cousin and fellow Mountie, Jonathan. Benny fears Jonathan may have something to do with the explosions in Toronto that police are passing off as accidents. The two detectives are helped in their investigation by their police connection, Jasper Forth, who admires Merinda’s sleuthing skills almost as much as he admires everything else about her. When signs suggest that Jonathan may be heading to Chicago, the whole gang pursues him, though Ray’s already there on his own. He left days before to check on his sister and her son, who live there and appear to be Ray's biggest concern. It’s in Chicago that Jem realizes she may never have Ray’s attention, Benny realizes that Jonathan may have turned to a life of crime, and Merinda realizes she’s not as indifferent to Benny as she might like.
Although the premises and some of the banter are enjoyable, McMillan is less successful with character and plot development, which will have to wait for later entries in the series (The Bachelor Girl’s Guide to Murder, 2016).Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-736-96642-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harvest House
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
None of the characters shine enough to inspire or enlighten readers.
A tale of several generations of women cursed to love men who love other women.
As the book opens, Gabriela Siton relates the story of her mother Luna’s death, and in describing her final year, Yishai-Levi, a journalist and nonfiction author, captures the family dynamic and lays out the drama—Luna doesn’t get along with Gabriela; she’s unhappy with her husband, David; she didn’t get along with her mother, Rosa; and all this has left Gabriela at loose ends. Gabriela seeks answers from her Aunt Allegra in Tel Aviv, trying to understand the family “curse,” and then the book shifts mostly to Rosa’s and Luna’s viewpoints. It abruptly shifts back in the end to Gabriela’s, skipping over years, when earlier, the narrative plodded slowly through days. There are so many characters that we only get a brief look at some of them, and so many disappointments and heartbreaks that they begin to lose their impact. Ordinary lives can be made beautiful, but when they belong to characters who are either unsympathetic or rudimentary, they are rendered ineffective. The characters’ faith, which influences so many of the important decisions in their lives, mostly comes across as routine, habit, or even superstition. Some of the characters become involved in the struggle for modern Israel, and their political fervor is similarly underdeveloped.
None of the characters shine enough to inspire or enlighten readers.Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-07816-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.
During the Nazi occupation of Paris, an architect devises ingenious hiding places for Jews.
In architect Belfoure’s fiction debut, the architectural and historical details are closely rendered, while the characters are mostly sketchy stereotypes. Depraved Gestapo colonel Schlegal and his torturer lackeys and thuggish henchmen see their main goal as tracking down every last Jew in Paris who has not already been deported to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, Lucien, an opportunistic architect whose opportunities have evaporated since 1940, when the Germans marched into Paris, is desperate for a job—so desperate that when industrialist Manet calls upon him to devise a hiding place for a wealthy Jewish friend, he accepts, since Manet can also offer him a commission to design a factory. While performing his factory assignment (the facility will turn out armaments for the Reich), Lucien meets kindred spirit Herzog, a Wehrmacht officer with a keen appreciation of architectural engineering, who views capturing Jews as an ill-advised distraction from winning the war for Germany. The friendship makes Lucien’s collaboration with the German war effort almost palatable—the money isn’t that good. Bigger payouts come as Manet persuades a reluctant Lucien to keep designing hideouts. His inventive cubbyholes—a seamless door in an ornamental column, a staircase section with an undetectable opening, even a kitchen floor drain—all help Jews evade the ever-tightening net of Schlegal and his crew. However, the pressure on Lucien is mounting. A seemingly foolproof fireplace contained a disastrous fatal flaw. His closest associates—apprentice Alain and mistress Adele—prove to have connections to the Gestapo, and, at Manet’s urging, Lucien has adopted a Jewish orphan, Pierre. The Resistance has taken him for short drives to warn him about the postwar consequences of collaboration, and his wife, Celeste, has left in disgust. Belfoure wastes no time prettying up his strictly workmanlike prose. As the tension increases, the most salient virtue of this effort—the expertly structured plot—emerges.
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-8431-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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